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Wednesday, 9 April 2014

Humour Club International - Heard of it?

Do you like humour? You do? That's wonderful. So do I. In fact, who doesn't? As I sat back reflecting on humour, I took a trip down memory lane.

I had gone to a family friend’s house sometime during 1988-89. While chatting with them, the friend’s father (FF) who used to crack jokes a lot,
handed me a piece of paper. It had a few couplets and a
whole bunch of jokes. Jokes that I had never heard before! As we were laughing our guts out, FF mentioned
about the existence of a humour club which gathered every 1st
Sunday of the month at a nearby gymnasium, to attend which, all were welcome.
And that piece of paper was the newsletter distributed there.

My interest was piqued big
time. Looks like we had struck gold. I had to attend this.

Source : Google Images

So, the very next 1st
Sunday of the month saw me heading out to this nearby gymnasium at the appointed
time. Not knowing what to expect, I made my way slowly into the hall where the several cotton mats were spread out on the floor for people to sit. There were
some chairs lining the walls for those who could not sit on the floor.
There were 3-4 chairs & a small table at one end of the room which completed the stage. While I waited, many people including elderly, school goers, house-wives on a break, all filed in and made themselves comfortable. A few elderly gentlemen made their way to the stage. Of them were Mr Y M N Murthy, Dr Srikantaiah and Professor Doreswamy.

Source : Google Images

Dr. Srikantaiah, with his booming voice, impeccable delivery, perfect comic timing held us enthralled and literally ROFL. Prof Doreswamy, a mathematics professor who was highly knowledgeable in Sanskrit, made us see the humour in certain very solemn hindu rites & rituals and everyday maths. The topics covered by Mr. Y M N Murthy, the founder of Humour Club International, were varied, including his hindi language proficiency or the lack of it, the number of times he catches cold in a year.

I was delighted! We were treated to nearly 2 hours of rib-tickling jokes, witty anecdotes, humorous incidents, all drawn from everyday life and nuggets of wisdom. These people did not flinch from laughing at themselves. At the end of the session, I was happy to receive a copy of that eagerly-awaited newsletter and some stickers with couplets printed on them. From then on, the sibling and I, along with the above friends were regular fixtures at these monthly gatherings. With the passage of time and for reasons unknown to me, the gatherings at the aforementioned gymnasium moved elsewhere, thereby putting a stop to our monthly humour fix.

Source : Google Images

The stickers could be found sometimes on auto-rickshaws, on the table at the cashier, on cupboards, on windows, etc. One of them says "If you lend money in close friendship, it is sure to close friendship", while another one says "Think not the cost of living; Think at whose cost you are living."

Mr. Y M N Murthy now in his 80's, is working tirelessly for decades motivating people to be more human and understanding, be it through his witty anecdotes or words of wisdom.

Mr. Murthy, Dr. Srikantaiah, Prof Doreswamy and other members of Humour Club International - Many thanks to each one of you for all the laughs, for encouraging us to laugh at ourselves & to find humour in every situation.

19 comments:

Charming post Prats.. As someone rightly said, "A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It's jolted by every pebble on the road" People who succeed in laughing at themselves or look at the positive side even the face of adversities in life are the ones who are most satisfied in life...

That is great work by Mr. YMN murthy. God bless. Making others happpy is an art which many don't knowI did H for Happiness last year and L for LOL but I shud do some happpy post some day before challenge endsthanks for the idea